THE MOTOR CONTEST 11 



yearly to the yield of prairie wheat and put hundreds of pros- 

 perous towns on the map. Prairies are now settled in months 

 where it took years before the coming of the traction engine. 

 The Man with the Hoe is passing, and, in his wake, man's 

 faithful friend the horse. 



Wheat is the noblest of all foodstuffs, containing in its ker- 

 nel the thirteen essential elements of animal nutrition in 

 almost the exact proportions found in the human body. Once 

 a race has tasted wheat it begins to rise in the scale of civiliza- 

 tion. The civilizing influence of commerce has created an 

 appetite among the people of all lands, and drawn with increas- 

 ing force upon the surplus of exporting nations. The world 

 is pressing on the limits of wheat production, and actual shortage 

 is imminent unless we can push rapidly into virgin fields in 

 search of a larger wheat-raising area. Canada, Russia, and the 

 Argentine are wresting from the older nations the right to 

 supply the world with bread. Broad, level tracts, unhampered 

 by petty farm lines and traditions, together with unlimited 

 mechanical power, offer the opportunity for organizing wheat 

 production on a broad and effective basis. Every horse dis- 

 placed by mechanical power adds five to eight acres to the 

 area devoted to human maintenance. Back of the motor 

 contest, then, and giving it force, is the call for the taming of 

 the prairies, and, deeper than that, the cry of increasing mil- 

 lions for an abundance _of their daily bread. 



